General: The Philippines > Reviews > Best kept secret in the far east

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Excellent
Shopping	Excellent
Nightlife	Excellent
Ease of getting around	Excellent
Family Friendly	Average

Advantages:	english speaking, very cheap, very friendly, great food
Disadvantages:	can be hot, some polution

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

What a great place the Phills is, Ive been to well over 50 countries and ive never fallen in love with a place like this, Forget Thailand, the Philippines is 10 times the place. Everyone speaks English,even the newspapers are in english, the food is great and the people so very friendly and helpful. Inexpencive? you have no idea, a taxi in the capital, about £1 anywhere you want to go, a meal for 4 in top quality restauant? about £10 with drinks!! and what restaunts, top quality with food from every corner of the globe, Italian,french,Japanese, chinese, Vietnamise, and, of course, the local food which is always fresh and tasty. The beach resorts are very very good indeed, Boracay and Cebu are lovley but Palawan stands out, A top quality resort with its own beaches, water sports , restarunts and bars should cost about £40 per night, and we are talking large private bungalows with massive modern bathrooms ,views of the sea and totally private, same thing would cost you £200 a night in the Maldives and not be as good!
Everything is cheap, top quality shirts in a modern dept stores are about £1.50 each and there is a sales girl to every rack of shirts to help you decide. A full time servant will cost you £10 per month, live here and you will never ever do any shopping,cleaning,cooking, washing again, Take a weeks washing to the laundry and have it washed and pressed for £2. As for crime on the streets,well perhaps ive been lucky but ive never seen any,ever, in fact i feel safer walking the streets at 1am there than i do in the uk,thats for sure. City polution? well that cant be denied,there is a great deal of traffic and things take time,no one hurrys much,but i kind of like that. Easiest way to travel between the 7000 islands is to fly, its cheap (£30) safe and flights are frequent. Ive really fallen for the phills and its people and have now bought a modern 3 bed condo in manila for just £48,000, What a place to retire to! medical costs? forget it, private treatment in a modern med center cost only a few pounds. It can get hot there but only for a month or two, on the whole cant fault it, spend the summer in the country side and the cool months in the towm, i love it.